Amit Mishra steals the show in his 100th Indian Premier League outing

Amit Mishra was at his best, picking up four wickets in three overs
in his 100th Indian Premier League appearance as he led Delhi
Daredevils (113/2) to an eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab (111/9) at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday.

advertisement

Akshay Ramesh

New Delhi

April 15, 2016

UPDATED: April 16, 2016 08:31 IST

Mishra picked up four wickets against Kings XI Punjab on Friday. (BCCI Photo)

Delhi Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan was in his elements after winning the toss against Kings XI Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Match 7 of the Indian Premier League 2016 on Friday.(Full IPL coverage)

He turned back the clock and gave a glimpse of his old self, making life difficult for the Punjab batsmen in the first six overs. Khan was at his best, swinging the ball both ways as he conceded one run in his first over and followed it up with a maiden in his second. He brought himself on to bowl one more over in the powerplay and just conceded five runs to tighten the noose over the opponents. Punjab managed only 23 runs in the first five overs after losing their dangerous opener Murali Vijay early in the innings. (DD vs KXIP: Live Coverage)

Zaheer turned to World T20 hero Carlos Brathwaite to bowl the sixth over where he was taken to the cleaners by Manan Vohra, who hit the burly West Indian all-rounder for three boundaries and helped Punjab gain the much-needed momentum.

However, the Delhi skipper delivered a masterstroke by bringing in leg-spinner Amit Mishra after the powerplay was over. And the leggie, bowling his first ball in his 100th IPL appearance, lived up to his captain's expectations. Mishra tossed the ball over Punjab opener Shaun Marsh's eyeline - a classical spinners' way to deceive batsmen and got success straightaway. It proved too good for Marsh, who walked back to the hut after being stumped by Quinton de Kock. Marsh had no chance there. Punjab lost their second wicket.

Incoming batsmen David Miller was welcomed with a googly. Eleven balls later, Miller got another googly from Mishra and this time he was caught in front. Punjab sunk to 51/3. The big hitter from Australia, Glenn Maxwell, was the next man in. Mishra did not change his tactics and continued with his strategy of bowling more googlies at the new batsmen.

Maxwell lasted only three balls. He was foxed by a ball that did not go the other way. The Australian all-rounder tried to loft Mishra over long off only to find the boundary rider. Mishra, who was bowling the ninth over of the innings, had already removed Kings XI's core.

He didn't stop there. Mishra soon cleaned up the top-order with another googly that found the gap between opener Vohra's bat and pad. The leg stump was pegged back. Mishra was the star of the first innings with the ball for Delhi. Zaheer did not bring Mishra back. Nevertheless, he had a memorable landmark game with figures of 3-0-11-4 that helped his side restrict KXIP to a low total of 111/9.

More importantly, the confidence with which he executed his variations at the Kotla should give him and his team a lot of confidence. Mishra, who is the only player to pick up three IPL hat-tricks, had been the trump card for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013. He had been one of the most consistent performers with the ball scalping 115 wickets from 100 games at an impressive economy of 7.25.

Chasing the paltry total, Quinton de Kock slammed an unbeaten 59 off 42 and stitched a 91-run stand for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (33) to steer Delhi Daredevils to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab. The win, also Delhi's first this season, will give a lot of confidence to skipper Zaheer Khan and mentor Rahul Dravid.

Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from